Next week one game is coming out that I want, and have pre-ordered. Sims 2: Nightlife. Scrolling through the releases that are coming up, though, the week after next we'll see the following:

• Dragonshard
• Fable: The Lost Chapters
• Indigo Prophecy
• Other titles that I'm sure will sell well, but don't interest me.

Now, as some of you know - I'm a PC gamer. That's it, that's all. So I don't even want to consider if I were buying for several platforms. So here's my question, to the game industry at large:

"Mr. Publisher,
Do you really expect me to spend $200 in two weeks on games? If so, when do you expect me to play these games?"

(Grrr. What will wind up happening is that these three games that I might have gotten will probably not be purchased by me. It would overstretch my gaming money budget, and also my time budget. By the time I get to buy a new game, something else will be out that I'm more interested in (Elder Scrolls, Oblivion, maybe?), or it'll be next year and I'll pick the game up in the bargain bin.

One would argue "Arki, why are you griping?", and I suppose the short answer would be because I don't have enough resources to enjoy all the games that I'd like to. That would require me being independantly wealthy, nay - filthy rich, even and probably that I foreswear any and all relationships.

And it also makes me sad for the game companies. Sure, they'll enjoy sales. But not as much as if they'd planned their release a bit better. Take Indigo Prophecy: an adventure game that is definitely an adult game in the level of darkness in the story and looks to be real good. But it's by a small company, and there's not a whole lot of buzz about it. And when are they releasing? The same week as Myst V: End of Ages? You got it. Somebody needs to be slapped on that one.

Anyway, enough of my griping. Here's hoping in the future they'll give me a month or two between hot releases.

PS: I would have linked you for Myst V, but the url contains http://www.gamespot.com/pc/adventure/mystvendoF-A-Ges/index.html?q=myst, which is against TOS for me to post. Anybody want to take a guess at just how irate I am right this particular minute? And I swear, if I get modded for censor bypassing in this postscript, I'll be cancelling my GS complete account due to horsecrap.

I mean, don't get me wrong. I enjoy my job...for the most part. But I really wish I could take about 3 weeks off and not have my work pile up on me while I'm gone.

Then there's the house. There are so many things Cliff and I want to do on the house, but all of them will take money. I don't even have to tell some of y'all what a house will do to you. I love our house; don't get me wrong. There are just so many things that you want to do, new flooring, add on this here, change the carport into a patio, add a covered parking area, etc.

Anyway, it just kind of drives home the point that buying a house is always only the beginning.

And an angry one, at that. Thankfully, we don't live in south Louisiana, but we're still having some problems even in the north part of the state. Long distance phone calls are hit or miss, credit cards are as well, for the same reason, we've been told that if our power goes out up here, it'll be out for two weeks because all linemen have been sent to the coast area to try to restore power down there.

We're opened up our Civic Center for evacuees and people are donating time, food, clothes, etc. A lot of other cities are doing the same. I just feel badly for the people and wish we could do more.

Anyway, I'm very grateful that we didn't get any tornados up here, and my prayers are with New Orleans and other gulf coast cities. And I'd love to shoot the looters.

Cliff and I bought our house back in March. Just short of six months ago. We still aren't completely unpacked. This weekend is a three day weekend, though, and I'm planning on taking Sunday to finish up. There really isn't that much left, and I don't have much of an excuse, other than there always seems to be something more pleasant to do than unpack.

If I never have to move again, I think it will be too soon.

*sigh* I had a problem with my computer where it was shutting off out of the blue. Cliff thought it was a heating/cooling issue and bought me a new power supply and cooling system (that's true love ) and also a new hard drive. So now I have an empty computer and I know that I'm getting Dungeon Siege 2 next week, so I just can't work up excitement to install something and play it for a week.

I know, woe is me...

I tried to write this last night, and like an idiot closed the tab. Grrr.

Moving on, I'm eagerly awaiting the release of Dungeon Siege II, which I pre-ordered. It should be in next Tuesday - oh happy day! I haven't gotten a new game in a while, so it'll be nice.

As for Gamespot Community, I've formed both a UCB and a union. Neither of them are on traditional gaming topics, but I hope you'll stop by.

Arki's Book Nook
We try to read a book a month, which each member taking turns nominating the book. This is our first month

Kiss the Cooks!
A union for people who like to cook or want to learn how

The house that got bought out from under us? The dream house? 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, a game room, over 2 acres of land? The people couldn't get their loan....

So y'all - cross your fingers - we submitted an offer and we'll know by close of business on Monday.

*bundle of nerves*

About three months ago my husband and I went to dinner with his parents and sister. Things were going pretty well, unitl my father-in-law decided to be a joker (he usually is - it pays not to take anything he says too seriously). The waitress had just refilled everyone's drink, and both husband and FIL were drinking tea. Evidently she had been making cow eyes at hubby all night, so up pops FIL with the comment "Now you need to give him some sugar". The priceless part was the look on my husband's face when it looked as though the girl were seriously considering giving him a kiss - part disbelief and part fear

Which brings us to the next part of smart waitressing - when there are two women in the same age range who could possibly be attached to the man in question, flirting can be detrimental to your health. It wouldn't have been a risk I'd have taken when I waited tables.

PS: Shame-us - what part of Phoenix? I lived in Glendale for a couple of years.

So far we've found two houses that were strong candidates. The first one sold the day we were planning on making an offer, the second one we discovered had a train track about 1,200 ft. behind it. Bleh.

I'm thinking house-hunting is like finding a mate. You have to kiss a lot of frogs, and some you think are perfect - only to have everything go to hell in a hand-basket. Eventually, though, if you persevere, you find your "lobster" (to quote Phoebe from Friends).

Meanwhile - house hunting is a pain a royal pain in the derriere.

*sigh* As many of you know, Cliff and I are trying to get a house. Cool! The suckage of the matter, though is we aren't quite ready yet and interest rates are going back up. Supposedly, the interest rates were lowered to boost the economy, and now the economy is "doing better" so they're hiking rates back up.

Is it me, or do the powers that be have no concept of Average Joe's economic situation? When I was working at Digital Bridge I had had two paychecks bounce and had been without pay for six weeks and worried every day for 4 months that I'd come to work and the damned door would have locks on it. Meanwhile, the newscasters are glibly reporting that we're in a "minor recession". This was pre-9/11, at the time of the dot-com fallout. And then 9/11 happened. More financial joy.

Fast forward to today - yes, the economy is improving, and I realize we aren't in a depression the likes of which our ancestors saw in the '30's. However, the economy is still trying to recover - it ain't over yet. Hell, the city I live in is two steps away from going belly up.

So tell me again why they're raising interest rates? Oh, that's right, according to Washington the economy is just ducky...

Husband and I came to a conslusion this weekend - we are eating out ENTIRELY too much, and it's seriously eating into our funds. So, we've resolved to stop eating out so often and limit it to once per week. Which is still a luxury, lots of people can't afford to do that. I feel pretty bad. We're trying to save up for a house, and it's usually me that's asking to be taken out. In my defense, we have seperate accounts, and so unless he fills me in I've no idea what his finances look like.

Another problem - usually crockpots are wonderful for people who work, but it is possible to over-crock something. Assuming I put something in the crockpot at 7:30 before I leave for work and Cliff's not ready to eat until 9pm (not an uncommon occurrence - sometimes he doesn't get home until then) I've got a disentegrated dish. I think I may look for a crockpot with a 'warm' setting.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a good holiday, and here's to a more frugal new year (for my family, anyway )

Here's my list of Christmas suggestions for the PC gamer you know and love :-)

• Half-Life 2 - for the first person shooter fan
• Sid Meier's Pirates! - for either the strategy lover or the person who likes to game but doesn't want to get frustrated
• World of Warcraft - for just about anybody. Game of the year, easy
• Zoo Tycoon 2 - good for parents to play with their kids, or for adults who love zoos
• Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines - for the creepy goth roleplayer. Seriously - this one is supposed to be awesome

Many people wonder how a person can vote for one candidate or another. For myself, I'm always between a rock and a hardplace. I'll warn anyone reading this, I'm about to make some huge generalizations - I realize most democrats and republicans are somewhere in the middle.

The Right Wing Religious Nuts want to:

• Legislate morality, which bugs me tremendously. Nay, it infuriates me. I will include the following in this:

1. Take away a woman's right to choose
2. Not give homesexual people the same rights and priveliges which any pair of horny 18 year olds can acquire
3. Outlaw businesses of a sexual nature, from the dowdy XXX video store to the strip club down the road
4. The list goes on and on. But I want the government out of my house.

The Bleeding-Heart Liberals want to:

• Give everybody a handout rather than a helping hand.
• Raise minimum wage, which relates to the above.
• Feel sorry for criminals
• Let children run amok and say "Aren't they cute?". Discipline is a family decision, and again, I want the government out of my house.
• Blame everything on somebody else, ala Columbine being the computer game industry's fault
• Take away my right to own guns and use them to defend myself or my family if need be.

Rant over

I draw your attention to this journal entry:

Heretic's Slam of Republicans

This whole diatribe made me sick to my stomach. People want to know why this country is divided? It's posts like this, which spew vitriol and insults. I don't understand this. If his intent was to somehow make republicans see the error of their ways, he failed. Not only do posts like this come across as coming from a nut, they also alienate Republicans and conservative Democrats.

You don't change someone's mind through insults, you do so through reason. At any rate, thanks for the abuse

Well, Halloween is here. Yay. We're supposed to go to a party tonight, but Cliff is on call and he's not home yet (quarter to seven) so it's highly possible he got held up. *sigh* Not that i particularly want to go to the party, but I miss my baby

Just as an update - husband didn't get home until almost 8:30. So we ended up not going to the party but instead went to eat with some of his co-workers. Not too bad.

Well, I broke down and did it. I pre-ordered the collector's edition of WoW. Got my spiffy pre-order bonus, too - a nice, big, meaty novel. Works for me. I'm just hoping two things:

1. Blizzard doesn't screw me over and that the game is good.. Past history would indicate that they will release an awesome title.
2. That it doesn't come out mid-November. That's when Pirates! is coming out, and I wanna play Pirates! more. Waaah.

Lastly - I got very excited by the pre-order box. They seemed to really be pimping the fact that you can play casually and solo if you want.

Please lord, let it be good.